The dictionary meaning of detachment is the state of being objective or aloof. That doesn’t sound like my definition.
I like to think that detachment is just not being attached to anything.
Detaching from needing to label everything and find meaning in life is freeing. Sometimes there is no meaning. Probably most of the time there isn’t.
The purpose of life is to live. Birth, living, then dissolution of form – that is how it happens. The judgments that come in between seem to be mostly meaningless and unnecessary. They tend only to bring stress.
Some people need to think that they are here for a special reason, a mission that God sent them on. They are here to save the world and to save humanity, or to leave their mark so they are remembered forever.
Hitler did that. It wasn’t a good thing.
The world doesn’t need saving, and humanity can’t be saved. At some point in the future, the sun will die and so will the conditions on earth that support life. It probably won’t happen for a very long time, but it will happen.
Most likely long before that, a meteor or comet will plot a course that happens to include a direct hit on earth. That will change things too. Or the climate will change enough that we have no water, and plants can’t grow.
It will be whatever it will be.
The reason I’m writing this is not to create something negative or depressing. It’s just a guess at what could happen, and a realization that other than waking up every day and appreciating every moment of life, there really isn’t much else to do.
There is nothing to accomplish, no goals to fulfill, and no mark to be left. There is just breathing, appreciating, and living.
But we are creators, and fulfilling that need fulfills our existence.
Bringing joy to each moment is living. Doing what you enjoy to do is living. Why do we ever do things we don’t enjoy? Work should be a joy, no matter what form it takes. The attitude you bring to it is more important than the task you perform.
If the tasks you perform only bring you misery, then change them. Make a decision and do something that takes you in a new direction.
Just remember, it may not be the situation that causes misery, but what you bring to it. Wherever you go, there you are.
Situations come and go, and that is also fine. I am not a permanent fixture here, and my only purpose is to live each day as though it were my last one here. Because it could be and we can’t ever be sure it won’t.
By releasing everyone I encounter each time I meet them, I do not become attached. I may see them every day, but I don’t hold on to them. People come and go, and that’s fine.
None of this depresses nor scares me. It liberates me to live an unconventional life free of the limiting judgments of others, including those closest to me.
I have no idea how other people think, and they have no idea how I think. That is the way this life is supposed to be.
Why would it matter more to me what other people think of me than what I think of myself?
My only goal in life, other than to live, is not to harm anything. That includes other people, animals, and the earth as much as is possible in this current society. I have to move about and make a living, but I do try to minimize the footprint that I leave.
It isn’t perfect but I am conscious of how my actions affect life around me.
I am in awe of nature and find endless satisfaction in watching the sun rise and set, trees bloom, birds fly, and seasons change. Witnessing in quiet wonderment is how I live.
There is no right or wrong, no judgments to be made. We must all do what we are drawn to do. My path is not yours; your life is not mine. From within I find my way and I don’t need help or permission to move through life.
I am here to live. Allow me that and I will allow you it as well.